Dispatch #48 - BLM Campgrounds in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts

7 Campgrounds to bookmark for next season. All first come, first serve. Roughly the same price as a gallon of gas.

May 24, 2026

Good morning from Los Angeles, where the weather seems to have finally settled into its annual rhythms. “May gray,” they call it here. Cool, cloudy mornings giving way to afternoon sunshine, the average daily temperature hovering around 67 degrees.

It’s the season of saving money. HVAC systems haven’t been run in weeks and likely won’t be until late July — a small financial mercy in a city now flirting with six-dollar gasoline.

The northern mockingbirds continue their singing on every block in my neighborhood. I don’t know if these guys are still looking for a mate after months of incessant calling, but I have officially given up searching for nests, tracking down females, and hoping to witness a tiny fledgling emerge dramatically into the world from a hidden nest.

I’ve also decided against abandoning my current career in order to become a full-time mockingbird researcher.

Just enjoy them, man, says my inner better half.

[I also might buy this postcard. Okay, I did.]

Saying Goodbye to Desert Season

Over the past six months, we’ve traveled together across the Mojave, Sonoran, and Colorado deserts of the American Southwest. But every desert season eventually comes to an end, and though people live in the desert — and though the temperatures haven’t yet reached their true boiling point — every May my body, brain, and spirit begin quietly saying goodbye.

See you in November…

In light of this seasonal ritual, I wanted to open up this year’s desert dispatches to all subscribers below — both as a way to revisit the journey and as a thank you for being here.

Paid subscribers continue to receive full archive access and help support the reporting, photography, and fieldwork that make this project possible. 🙏

Dispatch #31 - Cadiz Dunes Wilderness, CA

Dispatch #32 - McCain Valley, CA

Dispatch #34 - Gold Butte National Monument, NV

Dispatch #35 - Whitney Pocket, NV

Dispatch #37 - The Trona Pinnacles, CA

Dispatch #39 - Amboy Crater, CA

Dispatch #40 - US Route 95, AZ

Dispatch #41 - Amargosa River, CA

Dispatch #42 - Mecca Hills Wilderness, CA

Dispatch #43 - Chuckwalla National Monument, CA

Dispatch #44 - Algodones Dunes, CA

Dispatch #47 - Santa Rosa National Monument, CA

Sawtooth Canyon Campground, aka “New Jack City”

BLM Campgrounds in the Mojave Desert:

I have already covered the BLM campgrounds in California’s Eastern Sierra in Dispatch #5, but now to close out the season, I wanted to shift to some of my favorites in California’s Mojave (and Colorado) deserts.

BEFORE YOU GO:

— No reservations: All these BLM campgrounds are first-come, first-served, with nightly fees ranging from free to $6.

— Most sites provide basic amenities, including vault toilets, fire rings, shade structures, picnic tables, and occasionally a very charming lantern holder.

— Come prepared: Many sites lack potable water or trash service, so I always bring a five-gallon water container, extra toilet paper, and heavy-duty trash bags.

All photos below were taken at or within a few miles from these campgrounds.